Sunday, April 15, 2012

Boarding School For Boys: Knightley Academy

I chose Knightley Academy for my Reading My Library Quest because the author's name is so wonderful -- Violet Haberdasher. She must have known from childhood that she was destined for greatness. (OK, fine. It's a pseudonym. But it's still a great name.) The book itself was a fast read, putting our hero as the first commoner boy sent to a boarding school that turns out knights in an alternative England-ish place where knights provide most of the government payroll (police knights, medic knights, etc.).

The other commoners enrolled in this trial scheme are an adopted son of an aristocrat and a rich Jewish boy trying to avoid a banking career. The other boys all sneer at our band of heroes, but the greater danger comes from adults happy to weave the children into their dastardly schemes for the kingdom. So we have a Harry-Potter-ish book with fun and new school scenes, bullying fellow students, and adults who are not always what they seem. I'll definitely leave this out for my seventh grader, who will probably hunt down any sequels.